View full sizeThomas Boyd/The OregonianWest Coast Bank assistant manager Laurie Perkett describes what happened when the bomb went off in December 2008, killing two police officers, critically injuring a third and sending shrapnel into her leg.

From inside the West Coast Bank lobby in Woodburn, Laurie Perkett watched Oregon State Police Senior Trooper William Hakim bang on the side of a green metal box with a hammer and try to pry it open with a crowbar.

She heard him say: "There, I got it," just as she turned away and walked toward the front door.

"Oh my God, there was a bomb," she said she recalled thinking. She had seen a coffee table fly by on her left from the blast and could make out a pair of legs on her right. "My first reaction was get out the front door."

The blast occurred as Hakim was dismantling the bomb, which he mistakenly thought was a hoax device, with the help of Woodburn police Capt. Tom Tennant and Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell.

The blast killed Hakim and Tennant and severely damaged Russell's legs, forcing the amputation of his right leg. Russell has said he does not remember much from the day of the bombing.

Marion CountyBruce Turnidge

Perkett didn't realize for a while that she was injured. Although her leg hurt, it wasn't until she was talking with a firefighter at the scene that she saw her bloodied pant leg. A piece of shrapnel had cut her leg to the bone.

Video taken from surveillance cameras inside the bank also showed what happened that afternoon. Just before the blast, the video shows the three officers crowded around a green metal box, which was sitting on newspapers in front of the fireplace in the bank, which was decorated with poinsettias, a Christmas tree and other holiday trimmings. Perkett was standing a short distance away, behind the police chief.